Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Didn’t Get Their ‘Dream’ Wedding

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s 2018 royal wedding wasn’t their “dream.” According to the Duke of Sussex’s Spare memoir, he and the Duchess of Sussex had something else in mind for their nuptials.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle didn’t want to wait long to get married

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, whose 'dream' wedding was 'barefoot in Botswana', according to 'Spare,' wave as they leave Windsor Castle for their royal wedding reception — Meghan Markle and Prince Harry | Steve Parsons – WPA Pool/Getty Images

Harry proposed to Meghan in November 2017 at Nottingham Cottage, their then-Kensington Palace home. As he recalled in Spare, which dropped on Jan. 10, 2023, they wanted to become husband and wife soon. However, there’d been a palace-sized roadblock.

“We wanted to get married quickly,” Harry wrote (via UsWeekly). “But the Palace couldn’t seem to pick a date. Or a venue.”

So he and Meghan waited “for a decree from on high, from the nebulous upper regions of the royal decision-making apparatus.” During that time they went around the U.K. on a “traditional ‘engagement tour.’”

Harry and Meghan wanted to ‘explore’ wedding venue options with their ‘dream’ being ‘Barefoot in Botswana’

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle | Jonathan Brady – WPA Pool/Getty Images

The couple’s “dream wedding” involved a place close to their hearts; Botswana. Harry shared the detail in Spare while recalling a conversation he’d had with his brother, Prince William, about possible wedding venues.

“On our return from the trip I rang Willy, sounded him out, asked his thoughts about where we might get married,” Harry wrote. “I told him we were thinking of Westminster Abbey. ‘No good. We did it there.’ ‘Right, right. St. Paul’s?’ ‘Too grand. Plus Pa [King Charles III] and Mummy [Prince Harry] did it there.’ ‘Hm. Yes Good point.’”

Harry went on, saying the Prince of Wales reminded him he wanted a “small, quiet wedding.”

“In fact, we wanted to explore,” Harry wrote. “Barefoot in Botswana, with maybe a friend officiating, that was our dream.”

The African country was the setting for Harry and Meghan’s third date. Harry remarked in a 2017 engagement interview they’d had the opportunity to “get to know each other” while camping “under the stars.” It’s also where Harry sourced the center stone for Meghan’s engagement ring, a nod to their romantic getaway.

“But we were expected to share this moment with other people. It wasn’t up to us,” Harry wrote.

Ultimately, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s royal wedding took place at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, on May 19, 2018.

Harry and Meghan exchanged vows in their backyard 3 days before their royal wedding

Despite not getting their “Barefoot in Botswana” wedding, Harry and Meghan made their nuptials their own. They included special details in their royal wedding, honoring not only each other but also loved ones and the British Commonwealth. More than that, the pair exchanged vows privately at Nottingham Cottage shortly before the official ceremony.

“Three days before our wedding, we got married,” Meghan said in her and Harry’s 2021 Oprah interview. “No one knows that. But we called the archbishop and we just said, ‘This thing, this spectacle is for the world, but we want our union between us.’”

“The vows that we have framed in our room are just the two of us in our backyard with the Archbishop of Canterbury,” she added.

A spokesperson for the couple later clarified Meghan’s comment after it became widely disputed for not being legal, saying they “exchanged personal vows a few days before their official/legal wedding on May 19.”